William (Guillaume) Tirel, later
called Taillevent, was born around 1315, at the start of a century
the historian Barbara Tuchman has called “calamitous”. In 1337, the Hundred Years War began; the plague known as the
Black Death peaked between 1348 and 1350, wiping out from 30 to 60
percent of Europe's population. A number of this period's kings
had very short reigns. Yet not only did France not sink back into
the anarchy of the late Merovingian and late Carolingian periods,
for some Life appears to have been quite luxurious; notably the
dukes of Burgundy, whose court was increasingly known for its
magnificence.

Taillevent's own career is a case
in point: having started in 1326 as a kitchen boy for Queen Jeanne
d'Evreux, in 1347 he became Philip VI's chef; in 1355, he
joined the Dauphin of Viennois' staff; in 1359, he became the Duke
of Normandy's chef and continued in that role when the duke became
Charles V in 1368; from 1381 on, he held various positions on Charles VI's staff, before
dying in 1395.

It is impossible, in other words,
to guess from Taillevent's career that his century was one of the
most perilous France had seen since the end of the Carolingians.
He and those around him no doubt were touched by the worst of this
era, but clearly they and many like them lived in a reality
different from that which ravaged much of France.

GENERAL

The most
common modern image of medieval cuisine began to be established in
this period by Taillevent's Viandier and by Le Menagier
de Paris (supposedly by a
rich burgess, but possibly by a noble). But both
represented the cuisine of the upper classes, even if some aspects
of this began to “trickle down” over time (not least
because of the popularity of Taillevent's (probably not very
original) work). Food for most people was far different and
remains under-documented today.

Aristocratic
food seems to have continued advancing in complexity and
sophistication even as disasters ravaged much of France. The
recipes in the Viandier already differ from those of the
lesser-known earlier works in several regards, for instance in
“refreshing” the meat before cooking it and in using a
wider range of thickeners, whose production was described in more
detail.

Charles V
and Charles VI had complex household staffs, reflecting elegant
dining. Forks are mentioned in an inventory of Charles V's
silverware; but these would not come into general use for
centuries. When Charles VI's wife arrived in Paris, the royals
were given a wide selection of tableware, all in gold.

MEAT, DAIRY, FISH AND GAME

Pork consumption remained high. But consumption
of pork by the upper classes began to decline; beef and lamb began
to be more popular and would be mentioned more in the coming
centuries. Butchers sold both beef and pork, though
others began to sell the latter and later had to be restricted.
Statutes regulated the languayeurs
(“tonguers”) who checked for pustules under pigs'
tongues (called "leprosy" at the time) and marked the ears of pigs
who had them.

Blacksmiths acted as veterinarians
to horses and presumably other animals.

In Avranchin sour milk was given
as a rent.

Philip de Valois
eliminated the distinction between fish and herring sellers.
Lamprey was popular enough that there were lamprey dealers and it
was given yearly by one king to his confessor. Merchants of
Rouen and Dieppe joined to explore the African coast (for
fishing?).

King John had whale
meat brought from Bruges to England (where he was a hostage); the
poor would keep salted whale meat on hand for Lent.

Animals hunted included bear
(hunted with a crossbow, spear and net) and wild billy goats; one,
the isarus, the size of a domestic goat, the other said to be
monstrously large.

GENERAL AGRICULTURE

The
ravages of war and the attendant taxation, extortion, etc.
particularly impacted peasants and sometimes even drove them from
their land, greatly disrupting agriculture at times. In general,
the lot of peasants (which had largely improved over the previous
centuries) would get no better over future centuries. A long
series of natural disasters – frosts, heat waves, shortages,
etc. - added to the other troubles of the times.

Records
mention “common peas” (which were mature, and so
white, at the time) and “white peas” (which were beans
(haricots) ).

Evidence of “improvement” (probably draining) of
marshes in Normandy begins to appear. Hazelnuts, rarely mentioned
earlier in Normandy, are mentioned more often. One load of manure was sold in Normandy for a golden ecu (crown).

At
Dieppe, the executioner received five pears or apples out of those
brought to the town market; he had similar rights on cherries,
plums and nuts (the Paris executioner later had a similar right).
Figs (probably from the south) were popular at Rouen and Dieppe;
a fig tree is also mentioned in Normandy itself.

Orange
trees and oranges begin to be mentioned.

Truffles
were popular at court.

GRAINS AND BAKED GOODS

The
number of grain measurers in Paris markets was regulated.

Several
laws addressed the weight and price of bread, the difference
between baked and unbaked dough, and who would inspect it. In
Rouen, the authorized weight for a loaf changed in accordance with
the price of wheat (as opposed to later practice in France when
the price of a loaf of a standard weight changed).

Trenchers
are increasingly mentioned, and distinguished from pain de
bouche (“bread for the mouth”).

In 1365, a Council at
Angers forbade using butter and milk in bread during Lent, showing
that both were already in use. In 1396 Parlement set prices for
bread.

The bread of Chailli
was the best (as that of Gonesse would be later) in the Paris region.
Millet bread was now said to “not be in the French nature” (though the grain was probably still eaten in some regions).
Breads were mentioned in
Alsace that went beyond a man's knees when set on his feet –
i.e., long loaves, unlike the round loaves more commonly known in France.

Ovens were authorized
in Amiens for tarts, flans and other pastries, showing both the
difference in heat needed for these and that pastry had become
important beyond Paris.

DRINK

Wine
merchants and wholesalers were regulated; the number of wine
merchants was limited. In Limoges, sale of wine from elsewhere was
banned for part of the year. Duguesclin is said to have drunk
three wine soups before going to fight the English.

Cervoise was
taxed in Paris.

Cider began
to replace beer as the dominant drink in Normandy.

Charles the
Bad, wrapped in a brandy-soaked cloth for medical reasons, was
burned to death when it caught fire.

A work on
alchemy suggested putting gold flakes in one's drinking water.

SPICES, HERBS AND OTHER SEASONINGS

Spices of Taillevent: Anise, cinnamon,
clove, costmary, cumin, galanga, ginger, mastic, nutmeg, paradise
seed, pennyroyal, pepper (long, yellow, and black; “bitter
pepper” was probably cinnamon and ginger together), saffron,
and sage. (Note the absence of costus and nard, both popular under
the Romans, and zedouary, the ginger-like root, that only made a
brief appearance in French usage.) Duke's powder (sometimes simply
“powder”), a blend of some of the key Oriental
spices which varied by household, begins to be mentioned. One
mention for a public (ie, not aristocratic) meal suggests it might
have been an economic alternative to using the individual spices.

Specific sauces were increasingly mentioned. Saucemaking became a
profession and the sauciers received statutes as a group.

“Water pepper” was
sometimes used as a native alternative to pepper (which would
still be imported for centuries).

White sugar is mentioned in
accounts. A statute refers to it as cafetin,
saying that preserves meant to be made with it should not be made
with honey. Pomegranate seeds are ofen mentioned as being sprinkled along with it.

STRICTURES AND STRUCTURES

Philip the VI established the gabelle on salt in
1343, by one account prompting Edward I to call him “the king of Salic
law”. Charles the V later made it a perpetual tax. Salt
became a state monopoly.

In 1351, the council of Beziers insisted monks
observe abstinence on Saturdays; in 1368 another at Lavaut
reiterated this with stronger sanctions.

In 1365, the Council of Angers forbade
milk and butter for everyone during Lent “even in bread and
vegetables”.

In 1367, a local law
forbade ovenmasters from demanding “tips”
(in bread, flour, etc.) for baking bread (which suggests the
custom had existed for some time before being banned).

Kings began to reclaim
the right of granting fairs.

A Rouen law forbade dumping manure or trash in
local streams (manure from the archbishops' stables was often
thrown in the Seine).

“Three
pairs of soup, of various colors,
sugared, and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds; with six pairs of
dishes [twelve entrées];
without counting the entremets, in which were the richest meats.”

Meals for noble on tight
budget:

For Sunday and
Thursday dinner, two patés,
each made up of a hen and two chickens.

Monday,
Wednesday, purée
of peas or of broad beans, with two pounds of salted pork;
good tripe,
cooked in water. For the second service, two portions
(rotulos) of beef and mutton, boiled and served with a hot
pepper sauce as a roast, six
capons, or six large hens...

Tuesday,
instead of soup, rice with cabbage, with root vegetables [raves],
and with leeks, served with mustard; twelve chickens, or six hens,
cut in half; and, for the second service, a serving of fresh pork.

Friday,
two soups, either with purée,
either of peas or of cabbage; fish, if any is to be found; twenty-four
fried eggs, with a good sauce; Lorraine pates; something fried.

Saturday,
two soups with a purée
of broad beans and almonds, seasoned with onion juice and olive
oil; fish, if there is any; twelve poached eggs, with a good
sauce; tarts with greens, eight hard-boiled eggs.

Dinner for royal guests:

First service: Crane and
stag venison.

Entremets: Lamprey
sprinkled with nails of clove, with the appropriate sauce.